Puerto Rico: I've now played a couple games of PR, which is enough to know that it's a very clever game with what feels like more tactics than strategy. It's satisfying to play and much faster than my other high-end games (RR Tycoon, Brit, El Grande) which is a big plus, but I don't feel as though I've built anything of consequence by game end... So, purely as a game I'll give in an 8, and update my opinion later. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.

Puerto Rico and Cats: Our cat, Duchess, came to visit both games of PR so far. The low-profile pieces, and only partial coverage of the dining room table allow her to sit on the boards and ships without disturbing the game significantly. She might knock a "colonist" or two off a plantation, but that's easily corrected. Two other nice features: The shorter games make her less determined to climb on the table for attention, and (with only one data point) we were able to leave her overnight with an unfinished game and play it in the morning. Now that's quality. Compare this to longer games with larger colorful cubes (El Grande, RRT), especially when exact location is important, and you see why Puerto Rico With Cats earns a 9.5.

Puerto Rico and Flying Squirrels: This was a less successful experiment. Nikki was keeping Rogue in her bra, and as the game wore on into evening, the squirrel decided it was time for breakfast. First she (Rogue) leaped out of her (Nikki's) collar, and onto Nikki's gameboard. Unlike cats, squirrels are smaller, and much more adept at spraying plantation tiles everywhere. And this one, notably, lost her claws in a kitchen accident. From there, she skated across the table to visit me, wading through my quarter of San Juan, before deciding that colonist chips look a lot like nuts. After three minutes of furry struggle, she agreed to trade the colonist for a walnut, and the game continued. Until Rogue popped out and skittered across the table again, earning herself some solitary detention with a very squeaky hamster wheel. While the whole episode was very cute, PR with Squirrels only gets a 6.5. Which, admittedly, is better than Munchkin, and much better than Munchkin with Cats.